DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Davenport Community School District board will vote on its long-range facilities plan Monday, Dec. 12. It includes the proposal to downsize from 17 elementary schools to 14, closing Buchanan, Monroe and Washington elementary schools.
Superintendent TJ Schneckloth said the goal of the long-range facilities plan is to address the district's large decreases in enrollment and "to set the path for the district for the future."
"Davenport Community Schools has anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 open seats," Schneckloth said. "So a comparable 4A district close to us could close and we would absorb every single one of their students without adding a seat to our school district."
In 2020-21, enrollment at the Pre-K through 6th grades was at 6,881. The buildings have a capacity of approximately 8,752 to 9,881.
A community survey was sent out to all district households in the fall to gather feedback on proposed school reconfigurations. No longer being considered is cutting K-5th at Walcott Elementary School.
Monroe and Washington elementary schools were identified for closure in part because of the age of the buildings and the costs associated with improvements. Meanwhile, Buchanan has the lowest enrollment out of the elementary schools in its region and the building wasn't recently updated like Truman's was.
That's money and resources Schneckloth said can be better spent elsewhere.
"The Davenport Community Schools never wants to close a building, but unfortunately, sometimes we have to do the hard things in order to get to the next step," he said. "The deferred maintenance on Monroe is projected to be $11 million. $11 million is half the renovation costs to build new science labs at Davenport North High School, to put libraries and things of that nature."
The district is in the process of redrawing boundaries for where students at those schools would go to school. It impacts roughly 1,000 students.
Monroe students would filter into Hayes, Jefferson and Wilson elementaries. Washington students would go to Madison, McKinley or Garfield, and Buchanan students would filter into Fillmore, Truman and Harrison schools.
If the proposal is approved, the schools would close sometime around the start of the next school year. Currently, Schneckloth said the district has the ability to absorb all staff members at the three schools in positions elsewhere.
The school board held its final discussion on the long-range facilities plan Monday night. Ahead of the committee of the whole meeting, the board held an open forum for public input.
Only one person spoke, Ann McGlynn, who's a parent of the district, but also the executive director of Tapestry Farms, an organization that works with refugees.
"I noticed that the three schools set to close have more kids who qualify for free and reduced lunch than most other schools in the school district," she said. "Why are we closing the schools with a higher percentage of kids whose families don't have as many resources as others? Why do we put this on the backs of kids who often have more barriers to face?"
Also in the long-range facilities plan is the proposal to move sixth graders to the intermediate schools. It would make room for preschool additions to be made to K-5 elementary buildings. That change is slated for the 2024-25 school year.
Some school board members expressed concerns Monday night about having that take place the following year instead of at the same time of the school closures, saying it might be difficult for some of the older students to have to change schools twice in two years.
If the school board votes to close Buchanan, Monroe and Washington, it will also eventually decide whether to demolish the buildings or sell them.
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